Dear Friends and Colleagues:
Interactive Radio for Justice activity during June is outlined below:
A colorful 15-minute film, produced by Lewis Mudge, IRfJ’s Field Manager, introduces our teams and the work they do for the project in Bunia, Goma and Kasugho, Democratic Republic of Congo. The film is in French with English subtitles:
http://www.irfj.org/the-project/project-in-ituri/
IRfJ programs produced during June are described below :
IRfJ in Ituri, DRC:
IRfJ-Ituri program 64 www.irfj.org/category/drc/irfj-base-drc/ Questions posed come from Bunia, Jiba, Mbokolo, Mandro, Tchomia and Bahema-Banyuagi, in Ituri; Is there an official tariff scale for fines? If so, why don’t the police offer official receipts?; Since the arrest of Chief Kawa and his transfer to Kinshasa we have not heard anything. What are the conclusions of the court?; and The Sudanese told the ICC that prosecutions will not help peace in their country, what does the ICC say in response?
Justice Magazine program 9 www.irfj.org/category/drc/justice-magazine/ This series takes a human rights or rule-of-law question and addresses it through theater, commentary from our listeners and responses from experts who are invited to our studio during production. This 9thth program in the series discusses land-dispute law. This is an important issue in the daily lives of many Iturian’s as they struggle to rebuild after the war. Our invited guests for this program are Fedil Romain Mkul, President of the Land Commission in Ituri; Augustin Kangamine, Head of the Ituri office of Reseau Citoyen Network (RCN), an international NGO working on land-dispute law; and Emile Ndele Arugapotana, Coordinator for Akina Amam Network, a local NGO which investigates land disputes.
IRfJ in Kivus, DRC:
Program 7 for IRfJ-Goma. http://www.irfj.org/category/drc/kivus-goma/ Citizens in Goma ask: Our home was burnt, and the mayor told us that he’d give us a new place to live, but we’re still living in the bush…what can we do?; What do the special police for women and children do? Can they arrest people? If yes, do they have a prison?; and If Jean Pierre Bemba loses his case at the ICC, what will happen to him?
IRfJ in Central African Republic (CAR):
IRfJ-CAR program 7 http://www.irfj.org/2010/06/7-irfj-listening-club-at-the-blind-association-in-bangui-car/ Questions include: When her husband dies a wife and mother loses her property to the husband’s family. Does she have rights under the law to this property, in order to provide for her children?; Why do the police ask for a summons-fee when they summon someone to the courthouse, before even saying what the charges are?; and Why doesn’t the ICC investigate offenses committed by the military on populations they are supposed to protect?
IRfJ-CAR program 8 http://www.irfj.org/2010/06/8-questions-concerning-the-upcoming-trial-for-jean-pierre-bemba/ Questions include: A man adopted three orphans but he refuses to put them in school because he wants them to work in his business. What does the law say on this?; Can the law punish poor people if they don’t have the means to take care of their children?; and Jean Pierre Bemba’s lawyers invoked ‘Non bis in Idem’ because the Prosecutor’s Office in Bangui had previously conducted their own investigations against Bemba, is this correct?
IRfJ in the News:
The IRfJ project is featured in the Spring-Summer 2010 edition of the Monterey Institute for International Studies Communiqué, and we’ve posted the article our Press page;http://www.irfj.org/press/
Thank you for your interest in IRfJ, your comments and ideas are welcome!
Sincerely,
Wanda E Hall
Director and Founder
Interactive Radio for Justice